South Sudan / Africa

  
Alan Boswell (Courtesy Boswell)

McClatchy’s Boswell caught in South Sudan’s war of words

A day before U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visited South Sudan this month, McClatchy correspondent Alan Boswell reported that President Salva Kiir had finally acknowledged his government’s support for a Nuba Mountains-based group that had been skirmishing with Sudanese forces. In a letter to his U.S. counterpart, the story said, Kiir apologized for…

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Pagan Amum, secretary-general of South Sudan's ruling party, was awarded defamation damages from two newspapers who reported on a corruption case. (CPJ)

Corruption a no-go zone for South Sudan’s journalists

Last week, South Sudan’s ruling party secretary-general, Pagan Amum, won an important court battle, absolving him of allegations that he received a $30 million corrupt payment in 2006. The accusations came from former Finance Minister Arthur Akuien Chol, who alleged earlier this year that he had received orders from “above” to transfer the public money,…

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Mading Ngor says his ejection from parliament is receiving unwarranted attention given the number of journalist assaults in South Sudan. (AP)

Attack on South Sudan reporter sparks critical debate

February is the hottest month in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, and Mading Ngor, a reporter and presenter for the Catholic-owned Bakhita FM, trudged his way through the heat to cover parliament proceedings last week–only to be thrown unceremoniously out of the assembly. “Before I had time to argue, four security guards pinned me…

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South Sudan President Salva Kiir said the Destiny article was defamatory. (CPJ)

South Sudan journalist speaks out after illegal detention

Detained without charge for 18 days, tortured, and released without explanation, South Sudanese journalist Peter Ngor plans to fight back. “I am going to sue them [in] court. What they did to me was completely, utterly wrong,” said Ngor, the editor of a new, private, English-language daily called Destiny. Still, Ngor believes that his illegal…

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Two journalists were arrested over a story criticizing President Salva Kiir, for allowing his daughter to marry an Ethiopian national. (The New Sudan Vision)

South Sudan security detains two journalists

New York, November 7, 2011–Two South Sudanese independent journalists have been imprisoned since last week over a column critical of President Salva Kiir, according to local journalists and news reports. On November 1, South Sudan National Security Services (NSS) agents in the temporary capital of Juba arrested Peter Ngor, editor of the private daily Destiny,…

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In the first months of an independent South Sudan, the press is feeling its way. (AP)

Mission Journal: South Sudan’s struggle for a free press

The former guerrillas of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) fought a 22-year civil war for greater autonomy and civil rights for the southern Sudanese people, culminating in South Sudan’s independence this July. But local journalists fear the former rebels turned government officials still harbor a war mentality that is unaccustomed to criticism, and that…

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